Soma Restaurant   4820 Washington Ave #A Houston TX 77007 713.861.2726 Reservations You might also be interested in these:     French Restaurants    Japanese Restaurants    Online Reservations    Sushi    ZIP 77007   Add Review       MY REVIEW: We had a girls night and tried the happy hour. My French martini was quite good. Atmosphere was fun. Took a while to get our food. The waitress told us the crab cakes were tiny, but we were happy surprised with the size and chunks of crab meat. It just needs more of a dipping sauce. The California roll with real crab (from the main menu) was okay. The uni and sea urchin were fresh. The tartare plate was a real let down -- warm, placed in spoons, and looked like cat food. The rainbow spider roll was crunchy, but the fish on top was warm. It was a good looking crowd, but I wouldn't come for the food!!! I've had better sushi elsewheres, but might return for the crabcakes! NAME: drfoodie SUBMITTED: 7/16/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 07/08 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: I think NYC chef must work for the restaurant. I couldn't agree more with Mas. The food is mediocre. This is NOT a sushi restaurant. The fish was of poor quality. There was no variety, no hard to find specialty fish. The 'franco-japanese' dishes that Chef Gadsby created are bland and uninteresting. I was just disappointed and will not be returning. They seem to just care about creating a trendy lounge instead of concentrating on the food. NAME: houston.foodie SUBMITTED: 7/1/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 5/2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: What an absolutely beautiful restaurant asthetically - architects and interior designer did a beautiful job. Loved the water features! Only downside was having to walk through the main dining area to go to the restrooms - were they an after-thought? We sat at the sushi bar and had I been sitting in the main dining area I would not have been amused if the restaurant was busy and people were continually trekking by our table to go to the loos! Service was prettyabyssmal especially when they were not busy on a Sunday evening so staff need to be better trained (waiter kept disappearing - literally). The food was good on the whole and we are certainly planning on going back. Some strange items on the menu, however ... fish and chips, for instance. I am a Brit and wouldn't order F&C in a Japanese restaurant! NAME: Harrogatelass SUBMITTED: 5/5/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: May 2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: What a premise! A fusion of the great food of Robert Gadbsy, late of N*oe in the O*mni, and the fine folks at A*zuma, a very good sushi bar. We were expecting great things. Unfortunately, it was a terrible meal. My wife ordered a pumpkin soup, I got a crab salad on endive. We also ordered sushi, sashimi for me and a roll for my wife. Then we ordered an entree. All of the food came out at once. What a mistake by the service staff! While my salad was good, the rest was terrible. My short ribs were a little cooler than room temperature, and the sushi roll was not the one my wife ordered. To be nice (and to satisfy her sense of adventure) she decided to keep it. It was horrible, chewy, and off tasting to boot. When chef Gadsby walked by from another table (and I think he recognized me as a frequenter of N*oe) he asked how everything was. When I told him, he just walked off with a blank stare. We had to go to M*olina's after for margaritas and bar food just to get the bad taste and bitter feeling of disappointment out of our systems. There are too many great restaurants in this town (and too many mediocre ones better than this) for us to go back again. NAME: T-bone Timmy SUBMITTED: 4/24/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 3/2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: i really enjoy soma, but it seems like the food is never consistent. last week i went twice and got the curry the first time, and the butternut soup the second. the curry wasn't the way i got it several weeks ago. 3 weeks ago on my visit, the curry was bright yellow and full of flavor, now it was a brownish red and not too appealing or tasty. the butternut soup was curdled? i think u call it, or broken. i don't know whats going on in the kitchen but i wish they'd get back to the way it was a few weeks ago. other than that, the service and atmosphere are awesome. NAME: david r. jansen SUBMITTED: 4/22/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: last week FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: Place is beautiful and the wine list is great. Food and desert were good and for the wait I was really pleased by the food. We had the potato ravioli and that was suprisingly really well. And for sushi we had the crazy irishmen and crispy ocean. Both very good and filled with flavor! On the other hand we had this rude waiter named Alex. He seemed to be in a rush and was not helpful at all. As he ran on by our tables he never gave us refills or asked us how things were going. Rude is the only word I could use to explain his service. Will be coming back and hopefully won't get that waiter again. Other than that the place was PACKED with beautiful women and nice bar crowd! A+ for the restaurant! F for server. NAME: BMC_David_Gringer SUBMITTED: 4/6/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 4/08 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: I strongly recommend Soma. The food was innovative and very well prepared. Please note....this is not just a japanese restaurant. I had the pear salad (with roquefort cheese and candied walnuts) and the seafood curry. The curry was yellow and quite spicy. My guest had the hama appetizer and an assortment of sushi. There is a limited wine list by the glass but the pinot noir we had was very nice for the price. Service was excellent and we were not rushed (one of my pet peaves). The decor was contempory but comfortable. Weak points.....limited parking almost requires you use the valet. I will definitely return in the near future. NAME: West U Wino SUBMITTED: 4/1/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 03/2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: My experience at Soma was wonderful. I didn't know about sushi and all of its variations, but the waiter, Alex, carefully showed me all of the choices and explained each. When my friend arrived we ordered the golden dumplings which were divine, and Alex selected a combination plate for us to share. We had two kinds of tuna, salmon, one other fish, all served on a stip of rice, and California rolls. I will be back, and I will ask for Alex. I was there for lunch, and enjoyed everything including a chocolate dessert. All of the waitstaff and the assistant manager were attentive to our needs and questions. A very friendly atmosphere. NAME: Jolene SUBMITTED: 3/13/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: March, 2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Good music. lots of beautiful women. Good kitchen food. Mediocre sushi. Loud atmosphere on weekend nights. Uneducated staff. Enuff said. NAME: cindy SUBMITTED: 3/4/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 02/2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Overrated to say the least. Some of the food was good, but for the most part the sushi's not that fresh. For something closeby try Z*ushi. Anyway, I came here for the scene...all the nice exotic cars parked outside the beautiful people inside and the swank bar area was what I was looking for anyway...so I cant say I struck out that much. well hope that helps... NAME: sushilover SUBMITTED: 2/27/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 02/2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: When the strongest point of a fusion Japanese-French restaurant is the French fries, you know there is a problem. I have read so much about this new restaurant, and I always have my worries about these hip joints opening up on Washington Ave. As soon as I walked in, I smelled fish. Not a good sign, because fresh fish should smell like...nothing. Then, they handed us some menus. Long sheets of paper that were stapled to each other. If I'm paying close to $60+ for a meal with drinks, shouldn't the menus match the decor? 1st course: kobe beef + foie gras roll. Way over-the-top and too much truffle oil. Too decadent for my palate, trying to combine all those things into one dish. It tasted like beef jerky. 2nd course: hama-yuzu. lightly seared yellowtail on some asparagus. Pretty good, great plating and appropriate sauces on the side. The fish didn't taste all that fresh (partially due to the lukewarm temp. of the fish), but not bad. 3rd course: fish + chips. Like I said earlier, the fries were pretty good, and the dipping sauces were average. Ketchup, tempura sauce, a mayo-like sauce, and a sesame-Asian type dip. The fried shishito peppers were spicy, but I was wondering why they were put in this dish. Didn't make a lot of sense. The fried fish was (I think) a whole fried tilapia. It was dry. And...you can get this at Chinatown for much cheaper (go to an Asian supermarket and ask them to fry up a fish for you after they scale it). All in all, a disappointment. I'm sure they will do great business as it's the only Japanese restaurant on Washington, and the decor alone will draw all the young, hip crowd. If you want to look at beautiful people, this is the place to be. If you want a well-made meal that satisfies and priced appropriately, go somewhere else. NAME: ramenjon SUBMITTED: 2/26/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 2/08 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: My wife and I were excited to have a sushi restaurant open so close to home and we expected a great deal from Soma. However we were very disappointed in the sushi and food. Some strong points: Ambience was good. The restaurant is very modern and trendy in decor. The service was excellent. We ate on a Wednesday and it was not that crowded. Our waiter was friendly and attentive. We had the Yuzu sorbet for dessert and it was excellent. Weak Points: Sushi was not fresh and in my opinion was not of the highest quality as compared to other upscale sushi restaurants. We ordered Toro which tasted nothing like toro. Also the fresh salmon sashimi had a slight "fishy" odor, not indicative of freshness. We ordered 2 'cold plates' as appetizers. First was the carpaccio which reminded me of tuna tataki, however, this dish had no flavor and lacked seasoning. The sauce was bland. The second dish was the lobster seafood cup which I thought was terrible. Once again the dish lacked seasoning and flavor. The sauce tasted like a blended mayo and heavy cream combination that leaned too much on the mayo flavor and was too overpowering of the seafood elements of the dish. We also had their signature roll which was the Soma roll. It wasn't terrible but was nothing spectacular. Sake selection was very limited. I can tell alot about a restaurant just by looking at their sake list. Overall, I would probably just return for the bar and not the food. It is a very hip restaurant for grabbing a drink with friends. NAME: ah1111 SUBMITTED: 2/15/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 2/2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: i had seen the sign of this restaurant then soon found out that it was from the same people as A*zuma. Made reservations for four. Food was excellent. Portions are small but the food was well worth the price. Our waiter was more than enthusiastic and he knew what he was talking about. The food took a while to come out of the line. We had dinner reservations at 8 and didn't get out of there until almost 10:30. The inside was warm and the lighting was appropriate but i don't think they've totally finished the plaster on the inside. I did think people eating at the bar was quite peculiar..should have been left to eat at the sushi bar. On a busy night like friday i don't think i would want people trying to order drinks and lingering around behind me. busy environment...overall a good dining experience. Food was fabulous. NAME: aggiesoysauce SUBMITTED: 2/11/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 2/2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Forget your California rolls. This has potential to become one of the top foodie destinations in Texas. Chef Gadsby was brilliant at Noe but never had the traffic that this trendy spot is destined to achieve. Saavy owner Yun Cheng from Azuma knows how to create a buzz and Chef Gadsby delivers with his cutting edge omikase tasting menu. Chef delivered 14 different courses to me and my friend adjusted to our tastes and preferences. Each one more amazing than the last. One dish had a curry sauce that was so good, I begged to take some home. Next time I am going to get the matching wine/sake flights! Let us all foodies unite to show Houston will support a truly world class Asian/infusion eatery. NAME: David Wolk SUBMITTED: 2/6/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 2/2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: i think its hilarious how mas has gone from a standard joe to being houston's newest and apparently GREATEST food critic. everything he has said about soma is a joke. the waitstaff and food at soma are the best you'll find for a japanese restaurant in houston doing 300 plus people a night, 4 nights a week. i'm a frequent costumer and they have never let me down. from having drinks in the lounge, to dining often with friends, chef gadsby is a success anywhere he opens. i get the duck wonton soup also, which has NO CHICKEN STOCK IN IT, cough cough, genius mr. mas. and it's perfect everytime. they've even started giving 2 wontons in it and its twice the satisfaction now. i can't wait for the patio to open and private rooms to get going so i can book parties. i've taken over 20 people there and not one complaint has come in. i think the sushi could come out a bit faster, but its not a problem when you're having fine dining. if i wanted fast food, i would go across the street to j*ack in the box, like reviewer mas should. A+ for Soma, these guys will be around for a long time. NAME: nyc chef SUBMITTED: 2/4/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: once a week atleast FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name... MY REVIEW: I am usually not the type of diner that likes to write reviews, but my last experience was so wonderful, and in such a stark contrast to the last review, that I felt compelled to write one. First off, I ate many of the same dishes that the previous reviewer had and our experiences could not have been more opposite. The fish and chips were moist and flaky, not at all dry. The presentation was one of the most creative I have seen in this town in a long time. This will definetely be a signature dish I assume. As far as the dipping sauces, I agree they could be more original, but hey they were tasty enough and in no way detracted from the great dish itself. As far as getting a better whole fish at h*unan on post oak, you gotta be kidding me. Gadsby's dish was infinetely better prepared and sourced out then some average chinese restaurant on post oak. I also had the braised beef and thought it to be the finest dish of the night. The meat was so tender, the sauce so full of flavor, I cannot imagine anyone not enjoying this dish. Maybe that last reviewer just came on an off night. This happens in the restaurant business. You have to visit a place more then once (usually) to get an accurate view of an establishment. I also enjoyed the butternut squash soup, it was incredibly flavorful and made all the more enjoyable by the fact chef Gasdsby made it without milk or dairy products, just the natural flavors of the ingredients. (the sign of a serious, dedicated chef). Taku (spelling?, the head sushi chef, made us some outstanding nigiri and sashimi dishes. We tried some of his sushi apps and they were also good. Didn't try the rolls, as they were mostly cooked and I prefer the more raw types of maki. The GM said they were working on some new rolls that might fit my tastes. Look foreward to trying them in the future. We enjoyed several of their cold sakes and look forward to pairing them up with some of Gadsby's great dishes on our next visit. Service was also outstanding. Our waiter, Victor, was nothing but informative and professional. We also very much enjoyed our after dinner drinks in the swanky bar/lounge area. Very hip, just the style I like. Bartenders were pretty good and it did get extremely busy in the later hours. Aesthetically, this is one of the most beautiful restaurants I have seen in America, let alone Houston. You can get a different feel and vibe everytime you visit, depending on where you sit. They really went all out. In conclusuion, this is one of the best new restaurants in our town. Having been in the restaurant business a long time, and having a very keen eye for the many small details it takes to make a great restaurant, I can tell you they are doing alot of things right. Over time, with Gadsby's genius in the kitchen and their solid staff, they should grow into one of the best restaurants in Houston. NAME: finefoodfoodie SUBMITTED: 2/2/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: Feb 2008 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: There were 5 of us tonight, and took this as an opportunity to try a variety of dishes. Omakase Let's start with the most disappointing part of the meal. One of us chose to get the Chef's Omakase. From my experience, when Omakase is offered in a multi-course style, the whole table must get it. At Soma there is no such stipulation, yet now I wish there were. I'll explain below. Traditionally, omakase is the chef's selections of his creative items, often times off the menu, tailored for the foodie. It's not uncommon for the chef to visit the table to learn more about the guest and his or her general tastes. This was offered at Soma but Gatsby/chef on duty never showed. No big deal, but if the waiter says the chef will stop by, then the chef should follow through, or the waiter should have at least explained why he couldn't stopping by, even if it's to say "It's crazy in the kitchen." The omakase itself was neither creative or inspired - quite the opposite it consisted simply of 4 courses and a dessert straight off the regular menu. Two of the courses were soups, to boot. The worst thing was the length of the intervals between the arrival of each course. I suppose if everyone at the table had ordered the omakase, it would have been more tolerable, but even if that were the case the length of time was still unacceptable. This meant that our omakase-taker was waiting for dishes 3, 4, and 5 long after the rest of us had finished our meals. The general manager came by and asked us how the meal was, and I gave him our feedback on the omakase. He agreed with our points and said he'd let the chef know. We never saw him again. Food The food itself was really mediocre. Not bad, but not challenging, and definitely not worth coming back to. The food at Noe when Gatsby was chef there was much better. We ordered the following dishes: Hama Yuzu, Fish and Chips, Patriot Roll, Hamachi with Pickled Vegatables, Scallops, Ginger Butternut Squash Soup The Omakase included: Lobster, Seafood Cup Duck soup Potato Dumplings and Sweet Sausage Soup Curried Braised Beef Dessert The Hama Yuzu was decent, Hamachi on top of asaparagus spears with a Yuzu sauce, which is citrus-based. Same goes for the Hamachi with pickled vegetables. Pretty good, but nothing mind-blowing for an "upscale" attempt. C+ for both The aforementioned scallops were also decent, yet I felt the waffled waffle(?) on top of it distracted from the actual taste of the scallops. B- Patriot Roll was good, solid fare. B The Fish and Chips was presented interestingly, a big, fried, whole striped bass served with a side of straight-up french fries. The taste of the fish however was bland, and drier than expected. This made the 3 sauces that came with it all the more necessary. 2 of the sauces were standard Ponzu and Sriracha, available at your local Asian market. C'mon. You could do much better with the whole fish at Hunan on Post Oak. D+ Ginger Butternut Squash Soup - the flavor was good, but its problem was that it is too frothy throughout, not creamy enough. It had the consistency of melted Blue-Bell ice cream.C For a truly remarkable soup, try the Pumpkin Crab Soup at Cafe La J*adette. The Lobster and Seafood cup was OK, but a bit too heavy on the cream sauce to truly enjoy the taste of the lobster and fish. C Duck Soup - very good, great chicken broth base. B+ Potato Dumpling Soup - tasted like ground beef that had been cooked in a sweet soy sauce. Average. C for taste, D for creativity The Curried braised beef was edible, but no better than what you can find at your standard Thai restaurant. The beef was in chunks, slow cooked in a beef stew style, and very tender. The curry flavoring good, but taken as a whole, not special. C+ The dessert plate was just strange. It consisted of several pieces of a soft cake (pretty good), and a very potent ginger sorbet. Upon first taste I thought it was trying to bite my tongue off. The third part of the dessert plate was a sake cup full of ... your guess will be as good as mine because I had no clue. Club Soda, sake, and corn syrup? Just ask for the "mystery drink in sake cup" if you are up for it. C- for taste, changed to B+ due to increased curiosity factor Service Our waiter was very jolly and had a great attitude, but the service itself was uneven. At times he was very attentive, then he'd disappear for long stretches. And then there's the whole bit about the time it took for each dish of the omakase to come out. This, even after we talked to the general manager after the 3rd dish. Wait Service: C, Kitchen Service: F Music Loud, pounding house music seemingly on loop. D, made worse by the food quality and service Conclusion In Houston there is clearly a place for over-hyped, trendy, mediocre Japanese food (see Uptown Sushi and the Fish) where the club, err... restaurant delivers a nice social experience but unrewarding dining one. It's still early for Soma (they've only been open for 3 weeks), but it's not a promising start. However, the location is great, the decor is attractive, and I'm sure the place is rocking on the weekends. Taken strictly as a dining experience, there is much room of improvement. NAME: Mas SUBMITTED: 1/31/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 01/2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: Strong Points: Nice decor and very roomy. Specialties: Good food and very extravagant! Entrees: Didn't get to try all of em but, from what I tried the food was GREAT! Dessests: Didn't try any. Ambiance: Great for a friday or saturday night! Weak Points: Waiter was pushy in a way trying us to order something from every page. Very loud guy and jibbered about trying this and trying that after that. Seemed like instead of helping us he was trying to jack up his tab. NAME: Sushi_4_Life SUBMITTED: 1/31/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 1/08 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: My wife and I ate at Soma's on Friday night. Since Azuma is a favorite place, we expected great things from Soma's. Soma's is different than A*zuma's. We sat at the Sushi bar. The service was outstanding and the sushi was fresh. I ordered teh Tuna Roll. My wife did not see anything on the menu that she liked and the waiter and head sushi chef found her something that she enjoyed. I ordered teh Shrimp and Lobster in cocunut Curry sauce. It was a soup and the bowl was small for the $18.00 price. The soup was hot and while nothing like I expected, it was great. Overall, we will be returning as the total experience was positive. NAME: sct SUBMITTED: 1/21/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 1/2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: My husband and I visited Soma for the second time last night. We enjoyed sitting at the sushi bar on our first visit. The sushi chefs were helpful, friendly and gave us a sampling of different sushi. Our waiter was obnoxious, but the good food and sushi chefs made up for it. We ordered the Destiny and a variety of rolls. Tasty! Second visit: last night. We opted for the sushi bar again since we had such good service the first time. Unfortunately, we had the same obnoxious waiter who pushed the "cooked" items and then criticized us for ordering too much sushi. Hello...we are eating at the sushi bar. This time, the sushi chefs did not speak to us and did not even hand us our order. Everything had to go through the kitchen. They seem to be pushing kitchen food now and not wanting to emphasize the sushi. I particularly didn't like being told that I was ordering too much by my waiter. It was freezing last night and the waiters were milling around inside and out of the side doors which made the restaurant freezing. No one seemed to be in a rush to work. We had to ask the busboy to get a drink order. Our appetizer came out later than our rolls, etc. Mainly, I never want to sit through a conversation with the obnoxious waiter again. My husband was able to get passed the annoyance of the waitstaff and his only complaint was that the sushi was not as good as it was last time. I think that we'll wait a while before returning to give them time to work out the "kinks". We definitely won't be taking any friends to Soma anytime soon. NAME: kiki SUBMITTED: 1/20/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 1/08 FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times MY REVIEW: My fiancé and I had been eagerly waiting for a*zuma to open in the heights. We later heard that a new restaurant was opening in its place. While we where pretty bummed at first we where very happy to here that Soma is actually owned by the owners of A*zuma. Our experience started off with a very rude Valet that forcibly wanted us to park with him. The whole situation was very aggravating but we decided to give it a chance. The wait for a table was 30 min and we opted for the sushi bar. At first glance the menus are very difficult to understand but our waiter was very helpful in explaining the menu to us. Our server recommended some things to us and in the end we let him order for us. I have to say that everything he brought out was delicious. While I was not expecting to have duck at a sushi restaurant it was very good. The sushi was also very fresh but did take a while to come out. Our server however kept are drinks coming and sent over some edamame while we where waiting. I thought all in all our experience was great and will return soon. NAME: Chris SUBMITTED: 1/20/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 1/18/2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: My boyfriend and I visited Soma on a Sunday night around 8:00 PM. We have been anxiously awaiting the opening because we are big fans of the other 2 locations (A*umna in downtown and Kirby). We were seated promptly and also handed a "draft" menu. The descriptions were very vague, but out waiter was more than helpful in providing explanations about items on and off the menu. He told us this location is going to be a franco-japanese fushion. We ordered a hot starter from his suggestion and although the "beef stew" (beef and vegetables in a kimchee type sauce, topped with a fried quail egg) was good, it wasn't what we were expecting at a sushi restaurant (a little too hearty) and we agreed we wouldn't order it again. We ordered 3 specialty rolls (Red Devil, Crazy Irishman, and Soma Roll) as well as 2 spicy tuna hand rolls (off the menu). We were pleased with all of the sushi, although the crazy irishman roll was served rather cold, when it is supposed to be hot and crunchy on the outside (tempura-flash fried). Our meal with 1 glass of wine, a hot appetizer, 3 specialty rolls, and 2 hand rolls came to about $85 with tax and tip. We will visit again and hope to find a full menu (not just a 3 page paper "draft.") NAME: Melody SUBMITTED: 1/14/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: January 2008 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: We were excited with news that a new sushi restaurant would be opening in the Heights area, and so we decided to give Soma a try. Relatively crowded, for being open 5 days, we were seated promptley and given a a three page stapeled menu with the word "DRAFT" written on the front page. The menu was very limited. To start you have the choice between "hot starters" and "cold starters" however the menu langauge is all over the place. For example on starter read "Hamachi/ Saffoni Capri/ Truffle Salad" intrigued I asked our waiter for an explanation, "Hamachi is a japanese white fish, and saffoni capri is what could best be described as a sprig." A sprig? As in a garnish? Is this what they are resorting to putting on the menu as part of a description? Let's move on. We opted for edemame (which is not on the menu) and a cold starter, tuna carpaccio. The tuna carpaccio never came, our waiter was very apologetic and offered us a free dessert. It is worth noting that there are 5 specialty rolls on the menu, with some very odd combinations (spinach and egg ommlet with tuna) but the more generic rolls such as california or rockn'roll are not listed. We were told however we could request those. We ordered the Soma Roll, Relaxation Roll, and the Crazy Irishman roll. The rolls were average at best. The crazy irishman is flash fried, yet came out cold. This struck me as odd. The rolls were somewhat sloppy in presentation. We also ordered Unagi, or fresh water eel, it was fresh and delicious. The atmosphere, while still under construction is hip and cozy, neon lights and exposed brick walls give warmth to the spot. Plenty of tables and bar seating, also a lounge and what looks to be a patio under construction. Needless to say Soma has a few kinks to work out, the potential however is great, with a thriving young professional neighborhood surrounding this new spot, it may become a restaurant known for the atmosphere not the food. Time will tell for the fate of Soma. NAME: Houstonfoodcritic SUBMITTED: 1/8/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 01/08 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: On their opening weekend, they were definitely not prepared for the crowds that descended upon the restaurant. They are owned by A*zuma, and we went in expecting great things - and we were dissappointed. We got there at 8 on a Friday. The 10 minute seating time was fine. The 20+ minute wait for our drinks, 1 hour wait for SOME of our food, 2 hours before we gave up on getting the rest of our food, were not ok. The busboy service was really good (our water glass constantly refilled), the waitstaff was ok (he spent most of the night apologizing to us), and the owner was very nice in apologizing to us for the long wait (saying they didn't expect this big of a crowd), but he also told us to come back on a "Monday or Tuesday" - why would you tell your customers that? They did end up cutting our bill in half, but then overcharged us for a couple of our items on the bill (an already overpriced $12 lettuce & goat cheese salad became $18 on the bill). Another $18 Kobe beef "salad" was a thinly sliced piece of Kobe that tasted like chemicals (new grill??). The sushi was decent, but not as good as A*zuma... Hopefully they will work out some more of the kinks in their menu, food, and timeliness. I really hope so, since I love A*zuma sushi, and this is the closest sushi restaurant to my house! NAME: lisanti99 SUBMITTED: 1/7/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 01/08 FREQUENCY: Visited once MY REVIEW: My fiance and I decided to stop by at 6PM to check for happy hour. None. We stayed anyways. It's sleek and modern with orange and purple hues and pseudo tatood silk screens -- felt like something in San Francisco. Weird techno music in the background. They were testing the lights so initially was very bright and then they left it as slightly dim. He ordered his Kirins and I opted for their signature SOMA roll. Not disappointed. Succulent white fish with layers of salmon and avocado -- sprinkled with tempura. Oh so yummy. The chef special -- small size-- was a good size that included a california roll and at least 8 pieces of sushi -- overall very fresh except for one "that smelled fishy" -- he didn't know what kind it was. The OEKI roll -- supposed to be with tempura shrimp and eel -- tasted just like the california roll. They must not have had any eel because they substituted tofu instead -- definitely not a great replacement for eel. The tempura-- what tempura? -- more like boiled shrimp inside the roll. Definitely not recommended. Ladies bathroom was clean with concrete countertops but only 2 stalls. Crowd was older late 30s-40s with a few babies. We overheard it was only their second day, so service was pretty attentive but not "eye candy" per my fiance. Prices were moderate to expensive-- with nothing below $8 (including soup or salad!) -- although there was a big diagonal DRAFT on the paper stapled menu given. I'd like to see more tofu dishes, better descriptions of menu items, less MARKET-VALUE for sushi. Definitely optimistic about the staying power and looking forward to a future visit...hopefully with better music, the acoustics were terrible, sounded like only one speaker was working. NAME: drfoodie SUBMITTED: 1/4/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 1/4/08 FREQUENCY: Visited once ©Copyright 1991 - 2008 B4-U-EAT.COM. All rights reserved. Design and database by B4-U-BUY